Pages

Friday, November 20, 2015

The Radio Scene in Nepal - Regional Radio in the Himalayas

We
come now to the fifth topic in this mini-series of presentations on the radio
scene in the high mountainous kingdom of Nepal, and on this occasion, we look
at the regional radio stations throughout their country, as well as the information
regarding QSL cards from Radio Nepal.

Beginning in the early 1980s, a
whole new network of regional radio broadcasting stations was installed
throughout Nepal, with financial aid and technical assistance from Japan. Initially, the program feed from new studios
in Kathmandu was by shortwave to the regional locations, though a higher
quality program feed became available subsequently when a system of microwave
units originating in Kathmandu and fanning out to the regional stations was
inaugurated.

The first new facilities were
officially inaugurated in a special ceremony on May 9, 1983, with a new suite
of studios in Kathmandu, new mediumwave and shortwave transmitters on the edge
of Kathmandu, and a new regional mediumwave station, complete with studios and
a 100 kW transmitter at Pokhara, 85 miles north west of the capital city. The operating channel for this new regional
station was 684 kHz and its signal was heard quite widely in the subcontinental
areas. An additional 10 kW transmitter
was installed as a standby unit.

Two more 100 kW regional stations with their own
studios and an emergency 10 kW transmitter were constructed in Dhanakuta in
eastern Nepal (648 kHz), and at Surkhet in the midwestern area of their country
(576 kHz). Two additional smaller
stations at 10 kW each were installed at Dipayal in the far west (810 kHz), and
Bardibas, 40 miles south east of the city (1143 kHz). This latter station was originally intended
to operate as a second program stream for the Kathmandu Valley, though these
days it seems to be off the air.

Interestingly, Radio Nepal announced
some time around the turn of the century that they planned to erect a regional
shortwave station, in addition to the main stations on the edge of
Kathmandu. This new station was to be
co-located with a mediumwave station that was already on the air; it was
intended to give coverage to the western areas of the country; and it would be
a safety backup facility if any event should take the main Kathmandu station
off the air.

The location for this intended new
shortwave station would be near Surkhet, cosited with the 100 kW mediumwave
station already on the air on the western side of the country. However, nothing more has been heard about
this projected station during the past 15 years.

It is true, that there are many QSL
cards from Radio Nepal in the collections of international radio monitors in
various parts of the world. However,
obtaining a QSL from Radio Nepal could always be quite difficult. The Heritage collection in Indianapolis holds
many such cards, though most of them were obtained during personal visits to
the station.

For a couple of years, an onsite
volunteer did issue QSL cards on behalf of Radio Nepal. This was back around 1983 and 1984 and the
Honorary QSL Secretary was Miss Mohini Shepherd. During this time, Mohini was also providing
uptodate news and information about Radio Nepal for broadcast in the old AWR DX
program, Radio Monitors International.

The early QSL cards from Radio Nepal
were generally plain text cards with occasional printing variations, though in
the 1990s, a full color country snow scene was featured on their regular QSL
card.

Back around half a century ago, it
was thought that there was a small BFBS British Forces Broadcasting station on
the air at the British Army Gurkha base at Dharan in eastern Nepal. However, it was said subsequently that this
broadcast facility was simply a cable radio service over the camp amplifier
system. These days though, BFBS is on
the air on FM in Kathmandu itself.